What is an Internet web browser?

An Internet browser is computer software that allows you to surf the Internet using an Internet connection. It takes you from website to website and displays the pages for you (like the one you’re reading now).

Internet web browsers are Internet browsers which conform to the official web standards, so websites work identically and are displayed correctly in all web browsers.

There are many different web browsers. Examples are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera.

Internet Explorer is an example of a browser that isn’t a web browser.

Are all browsers the same?

No, not all browsers are the same.

For example the browser Internet Explorer from Microsoft, which is installed by default in Windows, isn’t a good browser:

Internet Explorer is not a web browser (but can be used to download one), because Internet Explorer doesn’t comply with the official web standards, which results in incorrect rendering of many websites and/or (partly) non-working websites

Internet Explorer is closed source, so it’s impossible to see what’s really going on and to find solutions to problems

Internet Explorer is much larger and slower than web browsers, is missing handy options and can’t zoom well, this means that small text is difficult to read

Internet Explorer has a lot of severe security vulnerabilities. This was the reason for security researchers like the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, to recommend switching to a web browser, like Mozilla Firefox

The European Commission has required Microsoft to give users the option to choose a competing browser in a browser choice screen, because Microsoft abused the dominant market position it has with their Windows Operating System, reducing consumer’s choice

Because of Microsoft’s behavior web developers are forced to make additional versions of their websites, specifically designed Internet Explorer sites for every version of Internet Explorer. This undermines competition and innovation and increases the costs and the amount of (otherwise unnecessary) work it takes web developers to build websites

Because of these reasons it’s very important that people use an Internet web browser and not Internet Explorer.

Why is Mozilla Firefox a good web browser?

Mozilla Firefox is a free web browser that offers a safer, faster and better way to surf the Internet and displays pages the way they were intended to be, since Firefox does follow the official web standards. Firefox also gives you more web page viewing space, so you can view more of a web page without scrolling. Also text is displayed clearer in Firefox.

Hundreds of millions of people worldwide have already switched to Firefox and are enjoying a better web experience.

Firefox can import your existing settings from Internet Explorer. An import wizard will run when you install Firefox (and is also available later), which can import (copy to Firefox) your Favorites, preferences, history, cookies, stored passwords and a variety of other data.

About Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox

Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox is a small multilingual utility developed by Utilu which after approval automatically downloads and installs the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, and then immediately opens one or more websites.

It even works under the most restricted user accounts: if the rights of the user running Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox are not sufficient enough Firefox won’t be installed, but only extracted to a temporary directory. Because the website(s) are opened directly, the user won’t notice the difference

Why automatically installing a browser?

The following explanation is written for web developers.

Most users just use the browser that was on their computer when they got it, which is Internet Explorer (IE) in most cases, since most people use Microsoft Windows. Often they don’t even know what the word “browser” means: they just click on “Internet” (Explorer) when they want to visit a website: if there would be an icon on their desktop called “Internet” (Firefox) then they would click on it too. So these users don’t care at all which browser they use, as long as (they think) it works.

These users will also never upgrade their browser as long as it keeps working, unless upgrading goes fully automatically (that’s why so many people still use Internet Explorer 6.0: it came with their computer and they just haven’t ever upgraded it, because they’re used to close every window they don’t know, in spite of the fact that none of these people intends to use outdated and bad technology). By themselves these people would never go looking for another browser. And even if they would they still have no idea how to download and install it.

For web developers this causes a lot of trouble and (otherwise unnecessary) additional work to make the sites they need to build work and look right in browsers like Internet Explorer. These browsers don’t usually follow the web standards and contain a lot of weird bugs. That’s where Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox comes in. It’s an installer which offers, for example, Internet Explorer using visitors of a website the easiest possible way to download and view the website in a web browser like Mozilla Firefox. Of course Mozilla Firefox is not the only web browser, but together with Google Chrome and Opera it’s one of the few web browsers which can work even under the most restricted user accounts, which is very important since you want your website to work and look right for every visitor.

What does Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox do?

If the website with Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox is visited by someone with a browser like Internet Explorer, the visitor will see a message telling him or her to run the program if the visitor wants to be able to use all functionality of the website. Since it offers a very easy way to install Mozilla Firefox even inexperienced computer users and users with a restricted user account (so you know it’ll work for everyone), who otherwise wouldn’t get past the - for them difficult - questions the normal installer asks, can use Mozilla Firefox. Also it doesn’t only install Mozilla Firefox, but can also immediately open websites in it (like the website in Internet Explorer from which it was started).

So Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox allows web developers to require Mozilla Firefox. Any other web browser, like Google Chrome or Opera, is fine too, but note that Apple Safari can’t always be installed, because it requires Administrative privileges. By including Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox on their website web developers no longer have to waste hours and hours on problems which occur only in non-standard compliant browsers. For every website they can decide if they target all versions of Internet Explorer, or only older ones (for example only Internet Explorer version 1.0 through 7.0).

When a website which includes Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox is visited with a non-standard compliant browser, like Internet Explorer, the following happens:

The user visits a website with a non-standard compliant browser (in which the website doesn’t work or look right)

The website asks the user to launch Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox

If the user approves, Mozilla Firefox is installed automatically and opens the website in Mozilla Firefox, so the website looks and works exactly as intended by the web developer

This is just how Adobe Flash Player gets installed anywhere: Flash just says “click here to view this”, which results in Flash being installed. This works great, because Flash is not installed by default while the installed base of Flash is over 99% percent.

It works perfectly fine when other versions of Mozilla Firefox (for other operating systems and languages) are in the same folder (directory) too: when Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox is run it will automatically pick the right version.

Yes, this is possible by entering the parameter “/D=Directory”, where “Directory” should be the full path to the directory to install Mozilla Firefox into. The path may always be quoted, but the quotes are only needed if the path contains spaces. Example:

UtiluMF.exe /D="C:\Mozilla Firefox"

The installer must have write access to the installation directory. Also the directory must already exist. If any of these conditions are not met the installer will ignore the parameter.

Question:

Is it possible to automatically choose the desired language of Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox?

Answer:

Yes, this is possible by entering the parameter “/LANG=EN” for English, or “/LANG=NL” for Dutch.

In the following example Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox will immediately start in English, instead of asking which language to use:

UtiluMF.exe /LANG=EN

Question:

Is it possible to run Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox automatically, without it being visible?

Answer:

Yes, this is possible by entering the parameter “/VERYSILENT”.

When this parameter is entered Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox won’t be visible. Example:

UtiluMF.exe /VERYSILENT

Question:

Is it possible to let Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox immediately create a profile, without running the Import Wizard?

Answer:

Yes, this is possible by entering the parameter “/CREATEPROFILE”.

When this parameter is entered Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox won’t show the Import Wizard, but instead immediately create a new profile, without importing anything. Example:

UtiluMF.exe /CREATEPROFILE

Question:

Is it possible to combine multiple parameters?

Answer:

Yes, this is possible by entering them all space separated. Example:

UtiluMF.exe /D="C:\Firefox" /LANG=EN /VERYSILENT /CREATEPROFILE

You can find more information about Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox on the websites mentioned below, or ask a question yourself.

Screenshots

Summary

Utilu Silent Setup for Mozilla Firefox is a small multilingual utility which after approval automatically downloads and installs the latest version of Mozilla Firefox, and then immediately opens one or more websites.

It asks no difficult questions and does not show technical information or error messages and even works under the most restricted user accounts, so you can quickly use Firefox on any computer and also easily explain how to install Firefox to anyone else.

Since it always works and is very simple to use, you can include it on your website, so you do not have to code for non-standard compliant browsers anymore.